The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-06-08
THE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL WEDNESDAY JUNE 1887.

taken from the land. With such an sx-
haustive crop, taking more from the land
than fifty bushels of wheat per acre. the
soil must be rich and thoroughly well filled
to have anything to spare for a crop OF
clover and grass. 1 have found that clover
will not grow on poor soil; thai it can not
get something from nothing any more than
other crops, and il farmer expects to get
a good stand of clover with oats he must
treat the oats exceedingly well, and at
least as well as a wheat crop is used when
that is soWn down with clover and
grass. But with an ordinary crop
of oats, of say forty-fve or
fifty bushels per acre, the soil is exhausted
Of about the same amount of fertility as
by thirty bushels OF wheat. Few farmers
think of manuring the land for oats. Now,
another thing have learned is that it pays
to feed every crop in some way or other,
either by manure or fertilizers, or by pas
turing sheep or by blowing in clover. 1t is
q fortunate thing that We are so well sup
piled with fertilizers, so that every crop
may get some nutriment to enable il to live
and grow proftably. Much is written and
said about the poor business of farming.
No doubt much of it is true. But there is
a reason for it. The farmers are not liberal
enough with their land. The liberal soul
shall be made fat" said Solomon, and
modern farmers should make this guiding
and controlling principle in their work,
especially when they want to seed down
grass and clover with oats, or with any
other crop, for clover at least requires to be
fed until its large, long roots are able to
find food for itself, and IN poor soil it per-
ishes long before it has a root of any con-
siderable size or is able TO go down foot
into the coil.
How to Raise a Maximum Crop of Potatoes
Thomas Barrett in Rural New Yorker.l
In preparing ground for potatoes, il
mapured in the fall then Ia the best time
to pillow, IS the manure becomes thorough
ly incorporated with the soil, and will be
more or less rotted by spring. Spring
blowing will do, but il the manure is not
rOtted, it will not produce as good results
as fri blowing. / find nothing in the
way of fertilizers equal to barn-yard
manure if well rotted, all the better.
Let it be spread on liberally-say fifty to
seventy.five two-horse loads per acre.
Wood ashes are also good. A tablespoon
full of unleached ashes spread over each
hill, as the stalks come through or just be-
fore, will be of great benefit, killing or
driving of worms and greatly promoting
growth. The drills should be three feet
apart with sirong-growing varieties-three
seed to drills four inches deep. Cut the
seed to two eyes, and plant sixteen inches
apart. Ii planted uniformly, as by line,
at sixteen inches apart, they can be cross
worked with a hand cultivator, while the
tops are small. This would be OF great
advantage to the crop, destroying the
weeds and mellowing the soil.
Medium sized potatoes cut up in two,
lengthwise, and the halves split lengthwise,
nTOdr0Q cot in IN
seed piece, seed-end, stem-eDd and middle.
II cut to the eye, plant the pieces one foot
apart.
Flat cultivation is to be preferred unless,
after abundant rains, the weeds come up
thickly, when it would be better to hill
sufficiently to cover the weeds rather than
let them appropriate the nutriment due
the potatoes, or, by over.cr0wdlHg, rob
them OF sun and air. My practice is TO
commence hoeipg as soon as the sprouts
come to the surface. | make it point to
clean them thoroughly once, taking every
weed that can be seen, and where the hoe
can not reach them without cutting the po-
tato tops, to pull them out with the fingers.
This gives the potatoes a fair chance to
grow, and they get so much ahead of the
weeds that spring up later as to almost
smother them. Keep the cultivasO7 going
until they have all been worked three or
| four times. For the later workings shallow
cultivation is the best to preveot cutting
| the tubeIs and roots.
Another point of great Importance is
| thinning out the stems when too many
| grow in the hill. Sometimes there will be
| from six to twelve, and even more, starting
on each hill. If all are permitted to re-
main, only small potatoes will be found in
such hill 1t is good rule to thin them
| to three stems in a hill, leaving the strong
est. For destroying the bugs have found
nothing to equal one part of paris green
and fifty parts of plaster, thoroughly
mixed, and sifted over the plants. If ap-
piled when the latter are wet with dew, OF
| after light shower, 1t is less liable to be
blown off and wasted. a fruit can, with
holes punched in the bottom, makes a good
sitter. If q few pieces were rolled in the
| above poisonous mixture and scattered
| about before the potatoes come up, il
would kill off most, if not all, of the old
bugs, and be great saving of after-labor,
So GNo,~